Concord man acquitted of raping ex-girlfriend

A Concord man has been acquitted of raping his ex-girlfriend in 2012, a claim his attorney called a deliberate fabrication and a judge initially said lacked enough supporting evidence.

A jury in Merrimack County Superior Court found Francisco Ulerio, 31, not guilty Thursday of two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault and two counts of attempted aggravated felonious sexual assault. A judge found him guilty separately in the case of one misdemeanor count of false imprisonment and fined him $500, according to the defense attorney, Mark Sisti.

The woman reported the assault in August 2012. According to a police report, she told an officer that she and Ulerio had recently ended their relationship, and that he had overpowered her the night before in their apartment on Alice Drive. Sisti said the woman had been secretly communicating with another man and had lied to make Ulerio move out of the apartment.

“The jury saw through the accuser’s story,” Sisti said. He said the jury deliberated for a little more than an hour before reaching a verdict.

David Rotman and Kristin Vartanian, the county prosecutors in the case, were out of the office yesterday and could not be reached for comment. It’s unclear whether they plan to appeal the ruling.

Ulerio’s case was less than certain from the start. In December 2012, a district court judge ruled there was not enough probable cause for it to go to trial. But the county pushed forward, and a grand jury indicted him last spring.

Sisti said Ulerio, who worked at Concord Hospital, had been rocked by the ordeal and was considering moving out of state because of it.

“It tore him apart,” he said.

(Jeremy Blackman can be reached at 369-3319, jblackman@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JBlackmanCM.)

I am forever amazing by the sloppiness of The Monitor and its writing staff. You cannot appeal an acquittal.
High school level knowledge....

gorman77 wrote:

03/29/2014

In a State where it's common to find Probable Cause to indict a ham sandwich I am appalled that the County Attorney would pursue a case that lacked evidence sufficient for a conviction. Seems we have a County Attorney out of touch with how Juries see justice in Merrimack County.